Buckle



(No Model.)

J. A. TRAUT. BUCKLE,

No. 443,245. l Patented Dec. 23, 1890.

WA4/7 Jusumdlwrauf UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE..

BUCKLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 443,245, dated December 23, 1890.

Application filed September 29, 1890. Serial No. 366,497. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JUsTUs A. TRAUT, a citizen of the United States, residing at New l-Sritain, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Suspender-Buckles, of which the following is a specication.

This invention relates to buckles for suspenders, and has for its object to provide a simple buckle having cast-off devices convenient for use and adapted to be .cheaply manufactured.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a front or side view of a complete suspender-buckle embodying my present improvements. Fig. 2 is au edge view of the same. Fig. 3 isafront view of the lever of the buckle, and illustrates, in part, the mode of using the cast-off. Fig. 4 is a plan View of the blank for the lever. Fig. 5 is a similar view of the preferred form of cast-off device. Fig. G is a section of the lever in line ci a, Fig.

Similar characters designate like parts in all the iigures.

The-buckle consists of any ordinary frame or web-case, as B, a lever, as L, pivotally supported in said case and constructed for carrying the cast-off device, and a cast-off device adapted for carrying the suspender-straps and for engaging and being readily disengaged from the lever. The frame or case shown in the drawings is or may be of the improved construction described in my prior application. The lever at its upper end is suitably conn structed for pivotal connection with the frame of the buckle, the particular construction depending, of course, on the kind of frame used in any given instance. As herein shown, the frame has a slot 7, in which the lever is cars ried, and the edges of the lever, where they pass through said slot, have notches 11 and 13 engaging with the front plate of the frame at the ends of said pivot-slot 7. The bucklelever being thus or similarly pivotally supported may be operated in the usual wellknown manner for engaging the buckle with and disengaging it from the suspender-web.

For carrying the cast-off device the proper buckle-plate (in this instance the lever) near its lower end is folded or shaped to form inclined cast-off closing-guides, as 3 and 5,which are preferably of the form of grooves, as 3 and 5', Fig. 6, leading down to the cast-off engaging-catches. Near the lower end of said guides the sides of the buckle-plate are provided with suitable cast-olf engaging-catches or are perforated with openings, as 4. and 6, which constitute catches for receiving the hooks of the cast-off, and stand forward of the normal plane of the buckle-plate. The sides of said plate are folded on curved or inclined lines-as for instance, on the lines b and c, Fig. 4=so that ata point some distance above said perfor-ations the distance between the grooves or guides is greater than the Width of the lever at the line a a of said perforations. The lines b' c, Fig. 4., correspond to the points Z) c, Fig. 6, and the lines d e, Fig. 4, to the points d c, Fig. 6. The spaces between the lines d b and c e, Fig. 4, correspond to the grooves 3 and 5', respectively.

The cast-off may properly consist, as shown in the drawings, Figs. 1, 2, and 5, of a wire bentto form a depending loop and having the upwardly-projecting arms thereof terminating in oppositely-disposed and oppositely-extending hooks S and 10. The 4lower side of the loop, this being the bar 12, is foi` receiving the usual suspender-straps, while the upwardn ly-extending arms furnish the necessary elasticity (together with the aforesaid loop and the curved sides la and 16) for enabling the user to readily detach the hooks.

In operating the cast-off to put it in place the user takes the same by the aforesaid bends 1i and 16, and placing itin the position indicated in dotted linesin Figs. 2 and 3, with the hooks lying sidewise against the buckle-plate between and above the aforesaid inclined guides or grooves, forcibly draws down the cast-off until the hooks thereof come to and enter the aforesaid catches or perforations. The cast-off then stands iirmly hooked into the lever-plate, as indicated in Fig. 1, the hooks passing through the perforations, and the upper ends 1S and 20 engaging in the lower part of the grooves, being thereby properly steadied.

Inthe drawings, the respective guides are not only set in opposition to each other, and also oppositely disposed, but are both inclined outwardly and upwardly, this being deemed the preferable construction and arrangement IOO thereof; but it is not essential that the guides shall be both inclined, as shown, although they should be inclined relatively to each other for operating, as set forth, to close the cast' off hooks when these are drawn downward between said guides. In those well-known types of buckles in which the lever is at the back of the frame the plate L, having' the catches and guides, maybe apart or continuation of the front plate of the frame.

IIaving thus described my invention, I claiml. In a buckle, the combination, with the buckle-plate having catches set in opposition and standing forward of the normal plane of the plate and having cast-off closingguides extending upward from said catches, ot the cast-oft having spring-arms provided with oppositely-extending hooks, snbstantiall y as set forth, adapted to engage said guides and catches.

2. In a buckle, the combination, with the buckle-plate having oppositelydisposed catches, substantially as described, and having grooved guides relatively inclined to each other and leading down to said catches, of the cast-oit having sl'ning-arms provided with oppositely-disposed hooks and adapted to be closed, substantially as set forth, by said guides when the cast-oft is drawn down into engagement with the catches.

Il. In a buckle, the combina-tion, with the buckle-plate having guides set inclined relatively to each other and standing forward of the normal plane of the plate, of catches in said guides near the lower ends thereof and a hook-provided spring cast-olf adapted to be closed when drawn between said guides into engagement with said catches.

l. In a buckle, the combination, with the buckle-plate having the edges bent forward on inclined lines to form grooved guides and,

having the catches in said guides near the lower ends thereof, of a spring cast-oft adapted to be closed when drawn between said guides into engagement with said catches. 5. In a buckle, the combination, with the lever-plate having oppositely-disposed inclined grooved guides 3 and 5 and having catches in said guides near the lower ends thereof, of the spring cast-oft consisting of the strap-carrying bar and the upwardly-extending spring-arms 1S and 20, terminating at their upper ends in the oppositely-extending hooks S and l0, adapted, substantially as set forth, to engage said guides and catches.

JUSTUS A. TRAUT. Witnesses:

HENRY L. RECKARD, FRANCIS H. RicHARDs. 

